KnotMissPriceless
Why so much hype?
Spoonatects
Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
PamelaShort
Six Black Horses is a film I don't want to over analyze, because I just enjoy it for what it is, an entertaining western. The film begins with Duryea saving Murphy from a lynching after being accused of being a horse thief. Next they arrive to a town where Joan O'Brien, an alluring blonde pays the two, to escort her across some dangerous territory to be with her husband. Into the journey Murphy begins to have suspicions about the woman, but Duryea wants the money. But it seems Murphy's suspicions were right, O'Brien is setting Duryea up to kill him because he killed her husband in a shootout. Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea worked great together in this story, Duryea doing what Duryea does best, playing the perfect sleazy, greedy character, with Murphy the conscientious one. The journey isn't a smooth one, as they encounter hostile Indians, and Murphy begins to fall in love with O'Brien. Finally at the end a showdown takes place between Murphy and Duryea. Murphy rides off with the girl and Duryea gets his wish as his coffin is carried away in a fine coach being drawn by six black horses with fancy plumes. Burt Kennedy's screenplay is well directed by Harry Keller, and this 80 minute film is perfectly paced and also nicely filmed on enhancing locations. I also thought the stray dog who takes a loyal liking to Murphy's character and joins him throughout the story, added an interesting touch. I enjoyed this Western and encourage the reader to watch and decide for themselves.
clicketware
Great western, I enjoyed Audie Murphy's performance.At 38 minutes into the movie there is a story told by Frank about a past love in Bisbee who he later discovered was married to another man. He says it taught him a lesson, "Always check the brand to make sure you are not driving another man's stock". That same story is told 50 minutes into Fort Dobbs (1958) by Clett (Brian Keith) and he says "Always check the brand first and that way you'll know if you are running somebody else's' stock".Burt Kennedy (story)was a writer in both movies so he got a lot of use of this tale!
Robin Moss
"Six Black Horses" is a mild and mediocre western with only one real point of interest. Burt Kennedy's screenplay plagiarises his own screenplay for "Ride Lonesome"! Not only does Kennedy re-use some of the plot points - the redskins offering to trade a horse for the lushly feminine white woman/the sudden race across flat lands to a refuge just over the ridge - but also recycles some of his dialogue: "Some things a man just can't ride around" /"just thinking about it gives me a shiver deep down inside"/"a man needs a reason to ride this country". Like "Ride Lonesome" and several other westerns written by Kennedy, "Six Black Horses" is a journey movie. A woman (Joan O'Brien) offers two saddle-sore drifters who are adept with guns (Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea) a thousand dollars each to escort her across Indian territory. Predictably, they encounter various dangers and, sadly, everything is resolved predictably.There is nothing special about "Six Black Horses". Most of the situations and relationships are tired clichés, and none is depicted with any originality or imagination. Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea were old hands at this sort of thing in 1962, and they do not put a foot wrong. Joan O'Brien is more interesting, partly because she was an extremely attractive woman, even by movie star standards, and partly because her role carries some mystery. It is regrettable that her movie career did not prosper for longer.If the gun fights had been expertly choreographed by a directer who knew how to do it (like John Sturges or Don Siegel), "Six Black Horses" would not be so forgettable.
stryker-5
Audie Murphy said of his film career that he himself remained the same throughout, and the scripts didn't vary much - it was only the horses that changed. This rather ordinary western fits neatly into the Murphy catalogue.A cowpoke befriends a fellow drifter who rescues him from a lynch mob. In the town of Perdido the two pals are hired by a beautiful woman to escort her across indian territory. It turns out that Kelly (Joan O'Brien) has an ulterior motive.Dan Duryea and Murphy combine well enough as the chalk-and-cheese buddies. The film contains a good mariachi funeral, and the dialogue-free opening sequence is well done, telling the story in visual language. The picturesque setting of sandstone outcrops and flat scrubland (filmed in Utah, of all places) provides an attractive backdrop for the action.When all is said and done, however, "Six Black Horses" is a fairly brainless oater from the early 1960's. You know the sort of thing - the latina dancing-girl in the saloon has a red flower in her cleavage, and in the shoot-out at the old mission, the indians' bullets keep pinging off the same spot on the parapet, while the indians themselves obligingly mass in the open, allowing Audie to get a good shot at them.Verdict - Always check the brand, lest you end up with a Murphy turkey.
